THE public is overwhelmingly against government plans to let pubs and clubs open until the early morning, a Populus poll for The Times has found.

Voters oppose the licensing law changes by nearly two to one, with women more strongly opposed than men. But young people — the group most likely to take advantage of later opening hours — favour the proposals and do not believe that they will cause more disorder and binge drinking.

The findings come after a last-minute surge in objections at the end of a 28-day period in which the public, police and local councillors could object to applications from pubs and bars to vary their licences.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that 30,000 objections had been received by the deadline last Saturday, against almost half of the 60,800 applications. Some 15,000 were from local residents. In all, an estimated 152,000 of the 190,000 bars, pubs and clubs in England and Wales have applied to renew or to vary their licences, with 38,000 missing the deadline.

The Government is determined to press ahead with the changes, which take effect on November 24. Tony Blair has repeated his support for them.

The department said last night that it was too early to say how many objections had been successful, as the deadline had only just passed. A spokeswoman said that if people had missed the deadline, they could make representations to their local councils if there were problems after the new licences had come into force.

The Times poll found that three fifths (62 per cent) oppose the changes, with a third (34 per cent) in favour. Women are against later opening by 71 per cent to 25. Men are hostile by 52 per cent to 34.

Attitudes to the proposals vary sharply according to age. The only group in favour are 18 to 24-year-olds, by 51 per cent to 47. Just 17 per cent of over-65s back more flexible opening, with 80 per cent against. Labour supporters are twice as likely to favour the changes as Tories (43 to 20 per cent), with middle-class people more supportive than working-class.

The strength of opposition is not surprising in view of the number of local planning battles and campaigns against the changes in several newspapers. Senior ministers believe that the proposals have been distorted in much media coverage.

The Government says that local residents will be able to object to disorderly and noisy behaviour outside pubs late at night even after an application has been granted.

Ministers believe that the changes will settle down, and the poll shows more sympathy for some of the Government’s practical arguments justifying the changes.

By a margin of 50 to 47 per cent, men believe that flexible opening times will help to reduce public disorder because drinkers will not all leave pubs at the same time. More than half of 18 to 24 and 25 to 34-year-olds agree.

However, 55 per cent of all voters and 63 per cent of women think that flexible opening times will increase disorder. Conservative supporters are more hostile to the changes than Labour voters.

More than half the public (53 per cent) think that longer opening hours will increase binge drinking but half of men, and even more 18 to 24-year-olds, disagree.

More than three fifths of the public (63 per cent) and more than two thirds of women (70 per cent) believe that “excessive drinking poses serious problems for society so government should maintain tight licensing laws which restrict when and for how long people drink alcohol”. Just a third (34 per cent) think that the proposed changes “rightly treat people like adults and recognise that it is not the place of government to dictate when or how long they drink alcohol” .

Ministers have been thrown on to the defensive over the changes after judges in England and Wales and chief constables gave warning that longer opening hours would increase drunken disorder.

Chief constables feared that British town centres could come to resemble holiday resorts such as Faliraki in the Greek island of Rhodes where young Britons binge-drink and engage in sexual activity in public. Chief constables agreed in principle to relaxing the laws but said the change should be matched by more late-night public transport and increased provision of public toilets.

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,506 adults over 18 by telephone between September 2 and 4. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

For more details, see www.populuslimited.com.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Ashes bid in chaos as big gamble fails
• Private schools secretly put up for sale
• Council tax debt-chasers on £600 an hour